Online fashion community system and method

ABSTRACT

In an online fashion community system ( 100 ) users provide personal image content, such as digital user fashion images ( 104, 700 ) that include users themselves modeling multiple fashion items as an ensemble, as the basis of community interaction. Users also provide information about the multiple fashion items, including information linking ( 108 ) to a provider of each fashion item and fashion data ( 106 ) such as brand, color, style, etc. User interface system ( 116 ) allows users to search among, access, and interact about the user fashion ensembles.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This invention is a non-provisional of pending U.S. provisionalapplication Ser. No. 61/683,135, filed on Aug. 14, 2012, all of which isincorporated herein in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to online communities and, in particular, to anonline fashion community

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Online social media encompasses a wide range of computer network-basedsites through which people interact with each other. Two distinct typesof online social media include social network sites and onlinecommunities. Social network sites are generally based upon directinterpersonal connections, and often interpersonal connections thatexist outside of or antecedent to the online realm. For example, sitessuch as Facebook.com and LinkedIn.com provide communication frameworksthat focus on direct personal or professional relationships. Incontrast, online communities are generally based upon topics of commoninterest where community members come together to discuss, share, orlearn information about the community topic.

Online communities cover an immense range of topics and have evolvedfrom the earliest days of networked interaction. From online bulletinboards to discussion forums, online communities have been a popular andegalitarian forum for discussing and sharing information and opinions.In this discussion-focused context, online communities have been apredominantly text-based medium. However, one form of online communityhas evolved that focuses on community members or users sharing links toonline sites or online photographs or images that are of interest,rather than being dominated by text-based discussion. This sort ofcommunity, sometimes called a content curation site, has beenpopularized by the general-topic site Pinterest.com. An analogous sitedirected to fashion-related content is Weheartit.com.

An advantage of online communities configured as content curation sitesis that they capture the richness of network-based images for an onlinecommunity. A disadvantage, however, is that they focus on image andinformation sources other than the community members. A community membershares a personal interest based upon, or represented by, an onlineimage created by another person.

Accordingly, an online fashion community is provided in which communitymembers provide personal image content as the basis of communityinteraction. In one implementation, community members provide digitalfashion images that include themselves modeling multiple fashion itemsas an ensemble. Each user also provides information about the multiplefashion items, including information linking to a provider of eachfashion item, such as a link to a network site operated by the provider.(The provider may be a manufacturer or a retailer, for example.) Inaddition, fashion data about the fashion items is obtained. For example,the community member may provide fashion data such as brand, color,style, etc. Alternatively, the community site may obtain the fashiondata by a computer automatically accessing the provider network site. Inthis implementation the community member may be prompted to validate theaccuracy of the fashion information retrieved from the provider networksite.

Additional aspects and advantages of this online fashion communitysystem and method will be apparent from the following detaileddescription that proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DRAWINGS DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an online fashion community system.

FIG. 2 is a combined flow and block diagram of a fashion communityupload method.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of user interface system.

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic illustration of a fashion information uploadinterface.

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic illustration of a fashion information uploadinterface.

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic illustration of one implementation of fashioncommunity display interface.

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic illustration of a sample user ensemble image.

FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic illustration of a sample social fashion graph.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of a social fashion graph generating method.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a system 1000 having a computing device1002 as an operating environment of one or more embodiments describedabove.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an online fashion community system 100 inwhich community members or users (referred to generally as users)provide personal digital image content as the basis of interaction amongcommunity users. In one implementation, community users provide userfashion images in which the users themselves model multiple fashionitems together as an ensemble. The user fashion images of communityusers are graphic representations of combinations of fashion items thatthe posting community users believe to be attractive, stylish, etc. andprovide a basis for related community fashion interaction. It will beappreciated that the user fashion images may be still or motion imagesas represented by corresponding digital image files. For example, stillimages could be represented by image files in the JPEG file format, orother still image file formats, and motion images could be representedby image files in an MPEG file format, or other motion image fileformats.

As one example, a user fashion image may include the user wearing adress with various fashion accessories such as shoes, jewelry, andsunglasses, and also holding a handbag. The dress, shoes, jewelry,sunglasses, and handbag are fashion items that together comprise anensemble that is assembled and modeled by the user. As another example,a user fashion image may include the user wearing slacks, a shirt, acoat, shoes, and a belt of an ensemble. Fashion community system 100 isapplicable to both male and female users and male and female fashions.For purposes of illustration, the following description is directedprimarily to female fashion and female users, but is similarlyapplicable to male fashion and male users.

Fashion community system 100 includes a fashion community database 102that stores user accounts or profiles 103, user fashion images 104submitted or posted by community members or users, fashion informationor data 106 relating to fashion items modeled by users in the images104, and links 108 to providers, such as vendors or manufacturers of thefashion items. As examples, links 108 may correspond to a single-brandmanufacturer or retailer, a multi-brand retailer, an aggregator websitethat aggregates fashion items of many other providers, etc. Userprofiles 103 may include a wide range of information about usersincluding any or all of a user name, user location (e.g., country, city,and state), fashion images and related information uploaded by the user,links to other users or user fashion images liked by or commented on bythe user, links to social network sites, etc.

Fashion community database 102 is in communication with a fashioncommunity network site 110 such as a website available to multiple users112 over a worldwide public computer network 114 (e.g., the Internet).Network site includes a user interface system 116 through whichcommunity user information and fashion information is passed betweendatabase 102 and users 112. Fashion community network site 110 usesinterface system 116 to display fashion community information, such asuser fashion images 104 and related fashion information 106 and providerlinks 108, as subjects of community interest and expression.

FIG. 2 is a combined flow and block diagram of a fashion communityupload method 200 in which a user fashion image 104 is received from acommunity user and incorporated into fashion community system 100.Community upload method 200 is described with reference to actions oroperations that are performed or controlled by a user 202 operating apersonal computing device 204 (e.g., desktop computer, laptop computer,tablet computer, “smart” telephone, etc.), fashion community system 100operating on one or more server computers, and fashion provider systems206 each operating on one or more server computers, typically under thecontrol or management of the respective fashion providers.

Process block 210 indicates that user 202 provides a personal userfashion image 212 (i.e., a digital image file) to fashion communitysystem 100 for storage in database 102. For example, user 202 uploadspersonal user fashion image 212 in digital form to fashion communitysystem 100 via user interface system 116 (FIG. 1) of fashion communitynetwork site 110 (FIG. 1) on computing device 204. Personal user fashionimage 212 includes user 202 wearing or otherwise modeling multiplefashion items as an ensemble. Fashion community system 100 may includeuser verification in the uploading of personal user fashion image 212 toconfirm that photo 212 is of user 202 and conforms to communityguidelines, including prohibitions against images not of users or thatinclude nudity or minors, for example.

Process block 214 indicates that user 202 provides user-provided fashioninformation 215 to community system 100 for storage in database 102.Fashion information 215 may include a link to a provider of each of thefashion items in the ensemble, wherein the provider may be amanufacturer of the fashion item or a retailer who sells it. Fashioninformation 215 may also include any or all of a title for the ensembleof user fashion image 212, a description of the ensemble, the date, theuser, information about the fashion items in the ensemble, includingfashion item types, brands, colors, fabric prints, and additional userfashion images of the ensemble.

In one implementation, the link is to a page specifically related to thefashion item and may be referred to as an item-specific provider link.In addition to the provider link or as an alternative to it, the fashioninformation 215 provided by user 202 may include image tags or labelsthat specifically indicate or mark specific fashion items in image 212.The image tags may also correlate each fashion item with itscorresponding provider link, and may also include additional fashioninformation (sometimes referred to as metadata) regarding the fashionitem including any of the type of clothing or accessory, the color, thebrand, the type of fabric in the fashion item, print or image patternson the fabric, etc.

As an example, the type of clothing or accessory may be organizedaccording to category and may include any or all of the followingcategories and types, others:

-   -   Category—TOP: Types—Dresses, Jumpsuits, Tunics, Shirt/Blouses, T        Shirts, Tanks, Swimwear, Corsets, Cardigans, Sweaters,        Turtlenecks, Vests, Blazers, Jackets, Capes, Coats, Trenches    -   Category—BOTTOM: Types—Pants, Jeans, Harem/Baggy Pants,        Leggings, Skirts, Shorts, Tutus    -   Category—FOOTWEAR: Types—Ankle Boots/Booties, Boots, Flats,        Gladiators, Heels/Wedges, Over The Knee, Oxfords/Derbies,        Sneakers    -   Category—ACCESSORIES: Types—Bags, Clutches, Beanies/Berets,        Hats, Headdress, Belts, Necklaces, Bracelets, Scarves/Echarpes,        Ties/Bows, Socks/Tights, Glasses/Sunglasses, Gloves, Backpacks,        Color Tights, Earrings, Brooches, Watches

Process block 216 indicates that fashion community system 100 receivesand stores the user fashion image 212 with the fashion informationprovided by user 202. For example, fashion community system 100 storesthe user fashion image 212 and the fashion information in communityfashion database 102 as an ensemble or “look” associated with user 202.

Process block 218 indicates that fashion community system 100 determineswhether each fashion item included in user fashion image 212 has beenpreviously included in database 102. For example, fashion communitysystem 100 compares an item-specific provider link provided by user 202to item-specific provider links previously stored in database 102, whichpreviously-stored links may be associated with one or more otherensembles or looks already stored in database 102. A previously-storeditem-specific provider link in database 102 will have associated with itprovider fashion data previously retrieved from the provider link, asdescribed below in greater detail. For each item-specific provider linknot previously stored in database 102, process block 218 proceeds tobock 222. For each item-specific provider link previously stored indatabase 102, process block 218 proceeds to process block 224.

Process block 222 indicates that fashion community system 100 accessesunder computer control the item-specific provider link for each fashionitem to obtain fashion data 225 from the corresponding fashion providersystem 206. Typically, the item-specific provider link will access anetwork page 226 corresponding to the fashion item. Network page 226 maybe, for example, an online retail catalog page corresponding to thefashion item and including detailed information about the item includingitem name, reference or catalog number, description, price, colors, oneor more display images. The computer-controlled accessing of networkpage 226 may be executed by a software application, sometimes called anetwork robot or “bot” or a Web crawler, that automatically accesses andparses network page 226 to search for predefined information, which inone implementation may include any or all of item name, reference orcatalog number, description, price, color, main display image and anyadditional display image, and returns the information 225 to system 100for storage in database 102 as provider fashion data for the fashionitem.

Process block 224 indicates that for each fashion item in the ensemble,provider fashion data 225 is sent to user 202 at computing device 204.

Process block 228 indicates that user is requested to provideconfirmation or validation that fashion data 225 correctly characterizesthe fashion item. If fashion data 220 is confirmed or validated by user202, process block 228 proceeds to process block 230. Otherwise, processblock 224 proceeds to process block 232.

Process block 230 indicates that user fashion image 212 anduser-provided fashion information 215 are associated with providerfashion data 220 and make available to display for community users thefashion ensemble assembled and modeled by user 202.

Process block 232 indicates that any incorrect or invalid aspect offashion data 220 is corrected with respect to the fashion item in theensemble of fashion image 104. Correction may be made by user 202directly (as illustrated) or by an operator of or moderator forcommunity system 100 based upon correction information provided by user202. Corrected fashion information is returned to fashion system 100 andprocess block 232 proceeds to process block 230.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of user interface system 116, whichincludes a fashion community upload user interface 300 and a fashioncommunity display interface 302. Upload user interface 300 may beactivated by a user to upload user fashion image 104 to fashioncommunity system 100. Upload user interface 300 includes a user fashionimage upload interface 304 with which the user indicates a personalfashion image file on the user's computing device to be uploaded tofashion community system 100. Alternatively, the user fashion image maybe accessed from a network site indicated by the user, such as a blog orsocial network page of the user, by a link to a specific image or by abrowser programming element (sometimes called a “bookmarklet”) providedby fashion community system 100 to access and retrieve the image orimages located at the site and provide it or them to the user to beselected for upload. Upon uploading of the personal fashion image file,a fashion information upload interface 306 is generated through whichthe user uploads fashion information relating to fashion items in theimage.

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic illustration of a fashion information uploadinterface 400 as one implementation of fashion information uploadinterface 306. Fashion information upload interface 400 includes animage 402 of the uploaded personal fashion image file. An instruction404 directs the user to “click on your picture below and tag it withyour outfit details.” Upload interface receives from the user a “click”or other computing device input at a location in image 402 on oradjacent a fashion item to indicate that fashion item. In response,upload interface 400 applies a tag marker 406 to the location indicatedby the user. In the illustration of FIG. 4, for example, tag marker 406is located on a shirt or blouse to refer to the shirt or blouse. Tagmarker 406 as illustrated in FIG. 4 has an outline to highlight marker406 relative to image 402 and also a numeric indicator fordistinguishing multiple markers. It will be appreciated that tag marker406 may be of any configuration and may also include alphanumericindicators (e.g., fashion item types or brands) or no alphanumericindicator.

In addition to applying tag marker 406, upload interface generates onthe user's computing device a fashion information upload window 408through which the user is prompted to upload selected fashioninformation relating to the indicated fashion item. For example, fashioninformation upload window 408 includes a fashion item type input 410 inwhich the user is prompted to enter a type for the fashion item, such asby providing a brief sample listing of types (e.g., “Dress, skirt, jeans. . . ”). In the illustrated implementation, a drop-down menu control412 is included to display or activate a predefined listing of fashiontypes upon user activation.

A fashion brand input 414 prompts the user to enter a manufacturer orretailer brand for the fashion item such as by providing a brief samplelisting of fashion brands (e.g., “Brand: Zara, H&M, . . . ”). Fashionbrand input 414 may also provide a drop-down menu from which to select afashion brand and/or may allow the user to type-in the fashion brand. Afabric detail input 416 prompts the user to enter any additional detailsregarding fabric of the fashion item, including fabric type (e.g.,cotton, linen, silk, rayon, etc) fabric prints (e.g., striped, polkadots, leopard, etc.), or any other tags a user opts to include. Afashion color input 420, which may include a spectrum of color choices(each corresponding to a block in put 420), prompts the user to inputone or more colors characterizing the fashion item.

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic illustration of a fashion information uploadinterface 500 as one implementation of fashion information uploadinterface 306. Fashion information upload interface 500 includes animage 502 of the uploaded personal fashion image file. An instruction504 directs the user to “click on your picture below and tag it withyour outfit details.” Upload interface receives from the user a “click”or other computing device input at a location in image 502 on oradjacent a fashion item to indicate that fashion item. In response,upload interface 500 applies a tag marker 506 to the location indicatedby the user. In the illustration of FIG. 5, for example, tag marker 506is located on a shirt or blouse to refer to the shirt or blouse. Tagmarker 506 as illustrated in FIG. 5 has an outline to highlight marker506 relative to image 502 and also a numeric indicator fordistinguishing multiple markers. It will be appreciated that tag marker506 may be of any configuration and may also include alphanumericindicators (e.g., fashion item types or brands) or no alphanumericindicator.

In addition to applying tag marker 506, upload interface generates onthe user's computing device a fashion information upload window 508through which the user is prompted to upload selected fashioninformation relating to the indicated fashion item. For example, fashioninformation upload window 508 includes a fashion item type input 510 inwhich the user is prompted to enter a type for the fashion item, such asby providing a brief sample listing of types (e.g., “Dress, skirt, jeans. . . ”). In the illustrated implementation, a drop-down menu control512 is included to display or activate a predefined listing of fashiontypes upon user activation.

A fashion brand input 514 prompts the user to enter a manufacturer orretailer brand for the fashion item such as by providing a brief samplelisting of fashion brands (e.g., “Zara, H&M, . . . ”). Fashion brandinput 514 may also provide a drop-down menu from which to select afashion brand and/or may allow the user to type-in the fashion brand. Aprovider link input 516 prompts the user to input a link to a providernetwork page (e.g., on a provider website) relating to the fashion item.For example, the link may be to a provider or vendor catalog page forthe fashion item. Based upon provider fashion associated with the link,retrieved from database 102 or from the provider network site, a fashioninformation affirmation section 520 displays the retrieved fashioninformation for affirmation by the user. An edit control 522 allows theuser to access and modify the fashion information displayed in section520.

With reference to FIG. 3, fashion community display interface 302includes a fashion community search interface 310 with which a communityuser may search or browse the user fashion ensembles or looks of fashioncommunity system 100. Search interface 310 may allow community user tosearch or browse among the user fashion ensembles according to any ormultiple ones of the information fields used by community system 100,including fields relating to types, colors, or brands of fashion items,users who have posted ensembles, the locations of posting users,ensembles that have been affirmed or “liked” by the user, datesensembles were posted, etc. Search interface may be rendered alone ortogether with other portions of display interface 302.

In one implementation, search interface 310 may include a listing ofmultiple fashion fields from which the user may select one or moresearch criteria. In another implementation, search interface may includea text entry block into which the user may enter one or more fashionfields as the search criteria. For example, the text entry block mayinclude a user prompt such as “What do you want to wear?” Displayinterface 302 also includes one or more user ensemble images 312 thatare displayed as a result of user-selected search criteria or based uponpredefined default criteria in the absence of user-selected criteria.Fashion information 316 for fashion items included the user ensembleimages and corresponding fashion provider information 318 are includedwith the ensemble images or accessed from links or tags in the ensembleimages.

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic illustration of one implementation of fashioncommunity display interface 302, as rendered on a display screen of auser computing device 204 (FIG. 2). Display interface includes multipleuser fashion ensemble panels 602 (four shown, designated 602-1 through602-4), with which are rendered a user ensemble image 604 (designated604-1 through 604-4) and a user name or identifier 606 (designated 606-1through 606-4), respectively. Each of ensemble panels 602 may alsoinclude any or all of multiple graphical user interaction controls suchas an ensemble affirmation or “like” control 608, an ensemble savecontrol 610, and a user comment control 612.

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic illustration of a sample user ensemble image700, which includes tags or links 702 (designated 702-1 through 702-4)for fashion items included in image 700. In the example of user ensembleimage 700, tag 702-1 indicates a blouse or shirt, tag 702-2 indicates ahandbag, tag 702-3 indicates a necklace, and tag 702-4 indicates askirt. Tags 702 may be displayed concurrently with user ensemble images604 of display interface 302, or may be displayed when a particularpanel 602 or image 604 is selected by a viewing user to obtainadditional fashion information. It will be appreciated that each of tags702 includes an active link, activation of which provides the fashioninformation stored in database 102 with image 604.

Referring to FIG. 6, ensemble affirmation control 606 allows a viewinguser to indicate that he or she likes or otherwise thinks highly of theuser ensemble in the user ensemble image 604. Ensemble save control 608allows the viewing user to save a link to the fashion ensemble panel602. User comment control 610 allows the user to enter a commentrelating to the ensemble of the fashion ensemble panel 602. Communitysystem 100 stores viewing user affirmations and comments in associationwith the fashion ensemble panel 602, so the affirmations and commentsare available for other viewing users to see. Community system 100stores viewing user saves in association with the viewing user'scommunity profile or account 103 so that the corresponding fashionensemble panel 602 is more readily accessible by the viewing user. Inone implementation, each community user may have saved fashion ensemblepanels 602 organized in one or more albums or categories, defined by theuser, to make user access to the fashion ensemble panels 602 moreconvenient.

FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic illustration of a sample social fashion graph800 that displays an extent of correlation between different fashionitems being used together in user fashion ensembles included in fashioncommunity system 100. In the example illustrated in FIG. 8, socialfashion graph 800 includes multiple nodes 802 (designated 802-1 through802-12) that correspond to fashion items included in a selected set ofensembles or looks. Social fashion graph 800 displays for each node 802a bi-directional branch 804 (representative ones indicted by referencenumeral 804) with each of one or more other nodes 802 indicating thedegrees to which the corresponding fashion items are worn or usedtogether in the selected set of ensembles, as described below in greaterdetail.

Nodes 802 in sample social fashion graph 800 each indicate a fashionitem by type and brand, including for example node 802-1 indicating bagsfrom the brand Chanel, node 802-2 indicating jackets from the brand J.Crew, node 802-3 indicating sunglasses from the brand Prada, etc. Nodes802 may be rendered, as illustrated, with a size corresponding to thenumber of occurrences of the corresponding fashion item among theselected ensembles, and may also or alternatively include a countindicator indicating specifically the number of occurrences of thefashion item among the selected ensembles.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of a social fashion graph generating method 900for generating a social fashion graph 800 indicating correlationsbetween fashion items in the selected set of user fashion ensembles orlooks.

Process block 902 indicates that a user defines criteria to obtainmultiple selected user fashion ensembles from among the user fashionensembles included in fashion community system 90. For example, acommunity user may select a set of ensembles based upon any of theinformation fields used by community system 90, including fieldsrelating to types, colors, or brands of fashion items, users who haveposted ensembles, the locations of posting users, ensembles that havebeen affirmed, “liked,” or saved by the user, dates ensembles wereposted, etc.

Correlation process 904 indicates a method of generating correlationsbetween fashion items that appear among the selected ensembles aredetermined. Each correlation may be determined with respect to a pair offashion items included in ones of the selected ensembles. For example,bi-directional branch 804 between node 802-1 indicating bags from thebrand Chanel and node 802-3 indicating sunglasses from the brand Pradamay be determined as the respective percentages of ensembles among theselected ensembles that include both fashion items.

Process block 906 indicates that fashion item criteria are selected fromamong all of the fashion items included among the selected ensembles.The fashion item criteria may be selected from among one or more defaultcriteria stored by community system 90, or may be specified by a user.The fashion criteria may encompass all fashion items included in theselected ensembles or may be limited to any specified fashion fieldsrelating to the fashion items. For example, the fashion criteria mayspecify or determine correlations between brands of fashion items, orparticular types of fashion items of specified brands, as illustrated inFIG. 8. Such a fashion criteria specification may indicate, for example,fashion items the user owns or has an interest in. The fashion itemcriteria define the fashion items for which nodes 802 of social fashiongraph 800 may be rendered.

Process block 908 indicates that fashion items and ensembles that meetthe fashion criteria are identified and counted.

Process block 910 indicates that for each fashion item, a count isobtained of the number of ensembles that also include another fashionitem that meets the fashion item criteria.

Process block 912 indicates that a degree of correlation (e.g., apercentage) is calculated for each of a pair of fashion items indicatingthe percentage of ensembles that include both fashion items of the pair.With reference to bi-directional branch 804 between node 802-1 and node802-3, for example, count indicators 806 indicate that node 802-1 andnode 802-3 correspond to 5 and 2 ensembles, respectively, that includethe specified fashion items. With an underlying count of 1 ensemble thatincludes both specified fashion items, the percentage of ensembles withthe fashion items of node 802-1 (i.e, Chanel bags) that also include thefashion items of node 802-1 (i.e, Prada sunglasses) is 20%, and thepercentage of ensembles with the fashion items of node 802-1 (i.e, Pradasunglasses) that also include the fashion items of node 802-1 (i.e,Chanel bags) is 50%. Restated, 20% of the ensembles that include aChanel bag also include Prada sunglass (1 of 5), while 50% of theensembles that include Prada sunglasses also include a Chanel bag (i.e.,1 of 2).

Process block 914 indicates a social fashion graph is generated anddisplayed to indicate the fashion items and correlations between them.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a system 1000 having a computing device1002 as an operating environment of one or more embodiments describedabove. Computing device 1002 includes a basic computing structure 1004having a processing unit 1006 and a memory 1008. Processing unit 1006executes or performs software or other computer-executed instructions1010 stored in memory 1008 in accordance with operations describedabove. Processing unit 1006 may include one or more of any of a centralprocessing unit, a co-processor, and a dedicated or special-purposeprocessing unit (e.g., an audio processor). Memory 1008 may include oneor both of volatile memory (e.g., registers, cache, RAM) andnon-volatile memory (e.g., ROM, EEPROM, flash memory), and may includeone or more portions that are integrated with processing unit 1006 ordistinct from it. Memory 1008 stores software or other computer-executedinstructions 1010 that are executed or executable by processing unit1006, and may also store other data or information.

Computing device 1002 may also include any or all of the followingadditional components: storage 1012, one or more input devices 1014, oneor more output devices 1016, and one or more communication connections1018. An interconnection mechanism (not shown), such as a bus,controller, or network, interconnects the components of computing device1002. Typically, operating system software (not shown) provides anoperating environment for software executed or performed by computingdevice 1002 on and coordinates operation of its components.

Storage 1012 may include portions that removable or non-removable andmay include magnetic storage, optical storage, or electrical storagethat may be local to or remote from basic computing structure 1004. Inone embodiment, software 1010 and the operating system software may bestored in both memory 1008 and storage 1012, with software 1010 and theoperating system software being loaded in memory 1008 from storage 1012for execution by processing unit 1004.

To the extent used herein, the terms “computer readable medium” and“computer readable media” generally refer to any and all forms of memory1008 and storage 1012 and may be volatile or nonvolatile, removable ornon-removable, and by way of example and not limitation may include anyor all of the following types: RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory, or othermemory circuit technologies, CD-ROM, Digital Versatile Disks (DVDs) orother optical storage, magnetic storage devices such as disks, tapes,cassettes, etc.

Input device or devices 1014 may include one or more of: keyboard,keypad, touchscreen, touchpad, mouse, trackball, pen, voice inputdevice, camera, scanner, or any other input device. Output device(s)1016 may include one or more of: display, speaker, printer, motion oraction actuator or activator, transmitter, or any other output device.Each input device 1014 and output device 1016 may be connected to orcommunicate with computing device device 1002 via any wired or wirelessconnection employing any optical, electrical, electromagnetic, oracoustic communication.

Computing device 1002 communicates through communication connection orconnections 1018 over a communication medium 1020 with one or more othercomputing devices 1022. Communication medium 1020 carries information,such as data, computer-executable instructions, audio or videoinformation, or other information, between computing devices 1002 and1022. By way of example, communication medium 1020 may include direct ornetworked communication between computing devices 1002 and 1022 and mayinclude one or more of wired or wireless connections employingelectrical, optical, electromagnetic, acoustic, or other carriers. Asone example, communication medium 1020 may include a global computernetwork such as the Internet.

A person of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that they may makemany changes to the details of the above-described exemplary systems andmethods without departing from the underlying principles. Only thefollowing claims, therefore, define the scope of the exemplary systemsand methods.

1. An online, computer network-implemented fashion community method,comprising: receiving from a first user over a worldwide computernetwork a first fashion image that depicts the first user modelingplural fashion items; receiving from the first user over the worldwidecomputer network information about at least one of the plural fashionitems in the first fashion image, including information linking to avendor of the at least one fashion item; obtaining fashion dataregarding each of the fashion items in the first fashion image andstoring in a database the fashion data, access to the first fashionimage, and the information linking to the provider of each fashion item;and providing the first fashion image over the worldwide computernetwork to a community of users, together with access to the fashiondata and the information linking to the vendor of each fashion item. 2.The method of claim 1 in which the fashion data includes one or more ofa clothing category, color, and brand of the fashion item.
 3. The methodof claim 1 in which the obtaining the fashion data includes accessingunder computer control a network link to a vendor to obtain fashion datafor a corresponding fashion item.
 4. The method of claim 3 furtherincluding obtaining validation from the first user of the fashion dataobtained from the network link to the vendor.
 5. The method of claim 1in which obtaining the fashion data includes receiving fashion data fromthe first user.
 6. The method of claim 1 in which the database includesaccess to plural fashion images of plural users and providing the firstfashion image to the community of users includes displaying the firstfashion image together with at least one of the plural fashion imagesthat has selected fashion data in common with the first fashion image.7. The method of claim 6 in which the selected fashion data include oneor more of a clothing category, color, and brand of fashion item in thefashion images.
 10. The method of claim 1 further including receivingfrom a second user over the worldwide computer network an indication ofaffirmation of the first fashion image and subsequently providing theindication of affirmation with the first fashion image over theworldwide computer network to the community of users.
 9. The method ofclaim 1 in which the information linking to the vendor of each fashionitem includes a retail link to a retail service from which to purchasethe fashion item.
 10. An online fashion community method, comprising:receiving from each of plural users over a worldwide computer network acorresponding user fashion image that includes each respective usermodeling plural fashion items together as an ensemble; receiving fromeach of the users information about the plural fashion items in theensemble of the user, including information linking to a vendor of eachfashion item in the ensemble; obtaining fashion data regarding each ofthe fashion items in each ensemble and storing in a database the fashiondata, access to each of the user fashion images, and the informationlinking to the vendors of the fashion items in the ensembles, pluralones of the user fashion images having a shared fashion datum; andproviding over the worldwide computer network to a community of usersthe plural ones of the fashion images in which fashion items have theshared fashion datum, together with access to the fashion data for thefashion items in each fashion image and the information linking to thevendor of each fashion item.
 11. The method of claim 10 in which fashionitems in the ensembles of plural ones of the fashion images sharedifferent fashion data and the method further comprises: generating afashion correlation mapping that indicates an extent of correlation offashion items in different ensembles that share fashion data; andproviding over the worldwide computer network to the community of usersa graphical display of the fashion correlation mapping, thereby toindicate an extent to which fashion items are worn together by theplural users in ensembles.
 12. The method of claim 11 in which thefashion correlation mapping includes extents of correlations betweenselected pairs of fashion items shared among the different ensembles.13. The method of claim 11 in which the extent of correlation of fashionitems in different ensembles that share fashion data is expressed as apercentage of ensembles that share the fashion data among the of pluralones of the fashion images.
 14. The method of claim 10 in which theshared fashion datum include one or more of a clothing category, color,and brand of fashion item in the fashion images.
 15. The method of claim10 further including receiving from a viewing user over the worldwidecomputer network an indication of affirmation of a selected fashionimage and subsequently providing the indication of affirmation with theselected fashion image over the worldwide computer network to thecommunity of users.
 16. The method of claim 10 in which the informationlinking to the vendor of each fashion item provided to the community ofusers includes a retail link to a retail service from which to purchasethe fashion item.
 17. An online fashion community system, comprising: afashion community database having stored therein access to pluralfashion images received from plural users over a worldwide computernetwork, each fashion image including a respective user modeling pluralfashion items as an ensemble, the fashion community database furtherincluding a link to a vendor of each fashion item and fashion dataregarding each fashion item, fashion items in the ensembles of pluralones of the fashion images having a shared fashion datum; and a computernetwork site that provides to a community of users over the worldwidecomputer network plural ones of the fashion images in which fashionitems have the shared fashion datum, together with access to the fashiondata for the fashion items in each of the plural ones of the fashionimages and the information linking to the vendors of the fashion items.18. The system of claim 17 in which the shared fashion datum includes aclothing category, color, or brand.
 19. The system of claim 17 in whichthe fashion community database further includes indications ofaffirmation of selected fashion images received from community usersover the worldwide computer network and the computer network sitefurther includes indications of affirmation provided with the selectedfashion images over the worldwide computer network to the community ofusers.
 20. The system of claim 17 in which the computer network sitefurther includes a user interface system a fashion community uploadinterface including a user fashion image upload interface to receivefrom each of plural a fashion image that includes a respective usermodeling plural fashion items as an ensemble, and a fashion informationupload interface to receive from each user fashion information about thefashion items in the ensemble.
 21. The system of claim 17 in whichfashion items in the ensembles of plural ones of the fashion imagesshare different fashion data and the computer network site further agraphical display of a fashion correlation of indicating an extent towhich fashion items are worn together by the plural users in ensembles.22. The system of claim 21 in which the fashion correlation mappingincludes extents of correlations between selected pairs of fashion itemsworn together by the plural users.
 23. An online fashion community userinterface system, comprising: a fashion community upload interfaceincluding a user fashion image upload interface to receive from each ofplural users over a worldwide computer network a fashion image thatincludes a respective user modeling plural fashion items as an ensemble,and a fashion information upload interface to receive from each userfashion information about the fashion items in the ensemble, including alink to a vendor of each fashion item in the ensemble; and a fashioncommunity display interface including display of plural ones of thefashion images in which the ensembles include shared fashioninformation, together with access to the fashion information about andthe vendors of the fashion items in the plural ones of the fashionimages.
 24. The system of claim 23 in which the fashion communitydisplay interface further includes a graphical display of a fashioncorrelation mapping indicating an extent to which fashion items are worntogether by the plural users in ensembles.
 25. The system of claim 23 inwhich the fashion community display interface further includes aninterface to receive from users indications of affirmation of selectedfashion images that are displayed and to provide the indications ofaffirmation with the selected fashion images when they are subsequentlydisplayed.
 26. The system of claim 23 in which the fashion communityupload interface includes a tagging interface with which the user tagsand provides fashion information for a selected fashion item in thefashion image.
 27. The system of claim 26 in which the tagging interfaceallows the user to append a tag onto the fashion image to tag theselected fashion image.